Feeling of hatred activates
specific brain areas
Indo-Asian
News Service
Washington,
Oct 29 (IANS) Feeling of hatred activates specific areas of
the brain that may be thought of as a "hate circuit",
according to a new research.
The
study by Semir Zeki and John Romaya of Wellcome Laboratory
of Neurobiology at University College of London (UCL), examined
brain areas that correlate with the sentiment of hate and
shows it being distinct from those bearing on emotions like
fear, threat and danger.
The
results are an extension of previous studies on the brain
mechanisms of romantic and maternal love from the same lab.
Zeki said: "Hate is often considered to be an evil passion
that should, in a better world, be tamed, controlled, and
eradicated."
"Yet
to the biologist, hate is a passion that is of equal interest
to love. Like love, it is often seemingly irrational and can
lead individuals to heroic and evil deeds. How can two opposite
sentiments lead to the same behaviour?"
To
compare their present results with their previous ones on
romantic love, Zeki and Romaya specifically studied hate directed
against an individual.
Seventeen
subjects, both female and male, had their brains scanned while
viewing pictures of their hated person as well as that of
neutral faces with which they were familiar.
Viewing
a hated person showed activity in distinct areas of the brain
that, together, may be thought of as a "hate circuit".
The
hate circuit includes parts of the brain important in generating
aggressive behaviour as if the brain becomes mobilised to
take some action, according to an UCL release.
Unlike
romantic love, which is directed at one person, hate can be
directed against individuals or groups, as is the case with
racial, political or gender hatred, said Zeki.
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